I just wrote about this. If anyone cares to read it, you can do so by clicking here.

Yes, Mr. Nagin lacks the same poise under pressure that say, Mr. Giuliani (backed by the U.S. Federal Government, his entire local officials, and most of the American public). Sure, Mr. Nagin has made some questionable comments in the past (I still chuckle at the ridiculous "Chocolate City" comment when everyone knows that old rich white folks run the South just like in the North!)

Despite this, the man's criticism of the WTC rebuilding efforts is valid, especially in the face of such a stupid question.

I'm not really amazed at the theatrical indignace displayed in some of these responses. It's typical of Americans (strikingly similar to the French - as in, "don't criticize us because we're always right") and reflects the same attitude that others castigate Mr. Nagin for having. It's the same lack of self-examination that allowed Katrina to be so devastating and dare I say, breeds more people willing to perpetuate 9-11 style attacks on our country. It's time that we stop jumping on those willing to raise a mirror to our faces and start asking ourselves how we can do better.

Mr. Nagin, Mr. Bush, Mr. Bloomberg, etc.

I work four blocks from Ground Zero and I think Nagin is right. I wish they'd build something on the WTC site. I don't care how ugly or stupid or shortsighted it is. Just build SOMETHING.

I find it amazing that he would still have a comment after all the crap we have been through. (And yes I am from New Orleans.) I am not "Chocolate" though, but I am still part of that state. And the fact that he can not handle New Orleans at all shows he can not be a leader or handle anything.

Nagin has a point. There's not one goddamned brick of a new WTC at ground zero, five years later.

He obviously didn't mean to insult New Yorkers. On the contrary, any self-respecting New Yorker knows exactly what he meant, and we have the confidence to not be insulted (and I commend those who stood up here and agreed with him). Kudos to those who have the balls to tell it like it is.

Our tragedies are like apples and oranges, however his tragedy will logistically take a lot longer to repair. We're just repairing one specific part of our city. He has to repair virtually his entire city. Chocolate or vanilla, it's a lot of area to cover.

Too bad that Mayor Nagin didn't jump in front of every camera covering the flood, puff his chest out, act self-rightesou and indignant and repeat: "Thank God George W. Bush is our President". People would be calling him "America's Other Mayor" and talk about running him for President. Such hypocricy on the part of Republican'ts. We still have a hole in the ground after five years because George Pataki hasn't figured out how to get it named "The Governor George Pataki World Trade Center Memorial".

i’m a new yorker and i’m not mad at what ray nagin said. i'm disappointed at what he omitted:

‘That’s alright. You guys in New York can’t get a hole in the ground fixed due to poor policy and inefficient management and it’s five years later. So let’s be fair maybe New Orleans can say the same thing in five years.’

Note to self: never say anything to a reporter from media-centric NYC that could be construed as criticism.

Sure it was a very unpolitical thing for Nagin to say, but he was right. What other mayor in any other major city in the U.S. has ever had the job of essentially rebuilding his city from the ground up? Before Katrina, Nagin had started implementing plans to bring more businesses to New Orleans and thereby increase the tax base of a basically poor city--certainly more than any previous N.O. mayor had done.

But there is more than enough blame to go around for everyone.

From CNN.com:

"To demonstrate his concern for the area, Bush visited New Orleans ten times between September and March. The administration has trumpeted its commitment to spending $107.8 billion to fight the impact of Katrina, Rita, and Wilma--a great deal of money, but it's spread over all five Gulf states.

About two-thirds of it went to immediate disaster relief and flood-insurance payments; only about 17% is going to long-term rebuilding and recovery in the worst-hit areas, including levee repair and wetlands reconstruction. Bush did not ask Congress to allocate any money at all for levee repair until Oct. 28, two months after Katrina - and the requested amount, $1.6 billion, was less than 1/4 of what the Corps had already stated was necessary."

i think people are missing the point. Nagin seems to be shifting blame again. Nobody disagrees with the fact that our big hole isn't fixed but i'm sure people down there would prefer he kept his focus on them.

I love Ray Nagin, despite his apparent lunacy, and he does have a point. As a current NY'er and former New Orleanian, knowing very well that the situations are really not at all equivalent, Pitts asked a ridiculous question (how on earth could a city that was 80% underwater for a week possibly be cleaned up in a year -- it took that and longer to clean up the debris from the WTC and we all know it) and got the answer he deserved. At least Nagin is honest.

One can "have a point" and show an ounce of self-restraint and professionalism. That was a moment for him to emphasizes the difficulty of re-building to get people to commit to helping New Orleans and he blew it.

Another vote for "he has a point". Nagin was challenged by the reporter, and came back with a valid comparison. He's rebiulding an entire city. Meanwhile, we've had the same hole in the ground for five years, and it may be there for years to come depending on whether or not they get any businesses to actually move in.

But New York City has the greatest big hole in the ground.

I'm so glad I'm not the only one that agreed with his comment. Love NYC all you want but both the WTC and New Orleans are major redevelopment projects with no major leader. Nagin can talk all he wants but he never backs up what he says with any action while Bloomberg was more concerned about building an unneeded stadium for a failed Olympic bid than getting real work done at the Trade Center site. In the end, it's the people of both cities who suffer at the hands of their leaders.

God forbid anyone criticize New York. Yet another sign of most New Yorker's total insecurity. If we don't keep saying how awesome we are than someone might notice this place is just average, at best.

Nagin's statement is not the real problem here. He said out loud the very thing that NO New Yorker wants to admit, and the problem with that is we can't say that he's wrong.

This is coming from a guy who hid on the top of a hotel during the hurricane, blamed the federal government for his city's lack of planning, had an emotional breakdown on live television, had his own police officers abandon their posts and people looting in the streets. And he criticizes our city??? Unbelievable. Funny, I don't remember New Yorkers pointing fingers, looting in the streets, and our law enforcement didn't abandon their posts. On the contrary, we came together, our mayor demonstrated strength and leadership, and our law enforcement showed courage. Ray Nagin can go F*ck himself.

An entire city decimated vs. what is essentially a giant void. i'm sorry, Nagin has a point. It's going to take a lot more time and effort to rebuild the city of New Orleans. New York City, the families, the developers, et. al have been himming and hawing for 5 years. building a city vs. building a tower. c'mon y'all. It seems that people have forgotten about what happened to New Orleans-- the media certainly has. Everyday, you can't escape hearing some reference to September 11th. folks perished at both sites, spaces destroyed, and in both instances, grave and egregious lapses in communication. I think Nagin's comments about a Chocolate City were more off base than this one.

"Pitts' reaction is of either disbelief, acknowledgement, or nervous smile."

None of the above. He's thinking, 'Thank you for my sound byte.'